Officially, it's official. It's Dyslexia officially.

As a homeschool mom who has NEVER sent her kids to public school, when your kids can't read properly (along a traditional time schedule) and you say "they have dyslexia." You get smirky looks that say "SURE they are....OR you are just evidence of why homeschool is a bad institution....I'm thinking the later...."

Or at least, that's what insecure little me reads into those looks. And there are little inquiries that go with those looks that seem to suggest that I might be right to suppose this. That's one of the reasons I went through the trouble to become a bonafide certified real tutor of dyslexia. And I knew becoming a dyslexic consultant would be good for my pride as well, but I really was going for knowledge on that one.

But to go to the PUBLIC SCHOOL system and have them evaluate my kids....THAT would be something. But my pride didn't care that much, to be honest. In this instance honestly and truly I wanted to secure the future of my children. I wanted to make sure that everything was documented well enough that they would get extra reading time on the SATs and ACTs and get accommodations in college.

By the time the psychologist had fit my kids into his busy schedule (years people, we waited years) I didn't need anyone to confirm to ME that they had dyslexia. There wasn't a shred of doubt in me. I just knew I could not risk college counselors or ACT administrators to give me that smirk. They needed to be on my side. They needed to KNOW.

And now they do. Our school psychologist did NOT give me that smirk. He sat with us, and from the get-go explained how everything they tested pointed straight to dyslexia and the good bad and ugly about it. He was incredibly competent and nice and it was so relieving to have someone who understood and someone to talk to that I started bawling a few times throughout the conversation.

And yes, he documented it all for everyone to see.

Well, it's getting late, (and I've been up WAY too late lately because Dustin's in Africa) so...lets get down to business...

Last week (as in not this last week but the week before) I had hoped for a simple week, it ended up to be a busy week. A friend of mine had a baby, so we babysat for a couple of days, and we went to the zoo ALL day one of the school days.

When Dustin had asked if I wanted to go, I thought about all the math and writing we should be doing and then I snapped out of it. The ZOO! of COURSE! That's why I homeschool!!! to do cool things like this at the drop of a hat.

So go to the zoo we did! When we went through the dinosaur part, William was convinced that if he went too close to the dinosaurs, they would gobble him up, but he did relax towards the end.

I think our whole family loved the penguin exhibit the best.

But the baby gorilla was amazing as well. He looked incredibly human.

But William was NOT impressed with the Komodo Dragons. They did NOT look like Dragons at all. Oh well.

We also made our own little Zoo at home...an ant zoo.

We still got quite a bit in that week. We learned about Napoleon. I wish I had gotten Usborne's book about War and Peace. Next time around. We made Napoleon Hats:

We also studied Jane Austen. I read to them a young reader's version of Pride and Prejudice, and I told them that this was the most Romantic. Book. Ever. Made. This actually caught their attention, and they insisted on being read the REAL book, and I told them I would get the audio book, and we also watched the Kiera Knightly version of the movie.

Hyrum burst out "I can't wait until the violence!!" Hu? I thought, and then I realized that it hadn't been too long ago that we had learned about Marie Antoinette, "You want her head cut off?" "Yep." "No honey, that was the other girl we learned about earlier." "oh, shucks."

Maybe I should have gotten the zombie version!

BTW.....I splurged and watched the 6 hour BBC version at my leisure....hehehe

As far as science goes, we did it in the evening because the zoo changed our schedule. We learned about cells. We made a cell model out of an actual model. We made cells out of pizza with the toppings being organelle parts, and then for dessert we made candy cells with oreo nuclei, frosting cytoplasm,  nerds as vesicles etc. Needless to say, the candy cells were the hit of the day.

This week we studied the cell some more. Specifically that it has a semipermeable membrane. We made naked eggs (the scandal.)

And we put corn starch into water with iodine, but this didn't work like it has for me in the past. I guess my plastic was too high quality. The iodine was supposed to be able to go through the plastic and into the cornstarch, changing it to dark blue, but it didn't.

Oh well,

In history we studied Florence Nightingale. I thought "oh why am I spending time on her when she's not even very important." WRONG

SO INSPIRING. and a WOMAN! I do not regret our spending time on her one bit. We got bandades and masks as our activity.

And Daniel got so into the spirit of things, he decided to fall on some steps so he could get a tour of the hospital and get stiches....

But we did spend enough time on Ms Nightingale that I didn't quite get to the into to the Industrial Revolution that I would have liked. We did read an amazing story about Robert Fulton by Discovery books from the 1970s. I LOVE those books! I don't care if they're out of date!

It was good to talk to my boys about how some of the most important inventors weren't the ones who originated the idea, but the ones who actually made those ideas useful for the public.

We started our own steam powered boat, but we did not finish it...tomorrow I'm sure we will.

We also made time for a library party for Curious George!! The man in the yellow hat even came!

And we had a graduation party for.......DUSTIN!!!! He graduated from his Master's Program in Management and Leadership!!!! I am so so so proud of him! YOU ROCK HUBBY!!!

(this picture is from his bachelors, but I like photos to go along with my comments.)

We ALSO did reading writing and math....of course....but for the sake of Westwind School, I've decided to be more faithful on my documentation on this even though it's rather boring.

Math first (because I like math best....and so do my kids)

Daniel has been keeping a log chart about the temperature each day. He gets excited about this part of school:

He's also gotten quite good at Roman Numerals:

He can also put things in Venn diagrams

Hyrum has been doing well, although it's funny when they ask him to explain his work. This is what happens:

You need a Master's in "Hyrum" to understand what's going on here, but thankfully, I do.

He's also doing perimeters where he is converting large amounts of inches into feet and inches.

Maxwell is learning more about geometry. Rightstart is very strict on their definitions, and so Maxwell has been practicing those:

Now Reading and writing: Well, we do the usual Barton stuff. Maxwell was working on "ture" suffixes. And he can now spell words as tough as acupuncturist:

And for Daniel, this week and last he's been working on "tch." He now knows when to use it. We first use tiles in our spelling:

And then on real paper:

Noticed he knew that "punch" does NOT have a "tch."

Hyrum...we're just reviewing for him. Including sight words:

Notice the eraser pushed SO hard that it went through the paper and the word made into people and just how HARD it is to CONCENTRATE! This is his good work....yep.

And Maxwell is very excited about his cursive. He's begun signing his name everywhere.

Also, Maxwell has made it a goal to write many stories and have me print them in a real hard cover book for him at the end of the school year.

Here's the beginning of his first story:

Chapter1

Maxwell was looking at a flower with petals as bright as a cherry. Then all of the sudden, he looked up and noticed that his family was no longer there. There were bushes, and trees, and the hiking path, but his parents were no where to be found.

Maxwell quickly ran up the mountain path looking for his parents. Maxwell’s heart was pounding fast, and he was panting very hard. He didn’t realize that he was running off the path. He kept on running until he realized that he was lost.

Then he took out his pocket knife. His pocket knife was a bright red, almost the same colour as the flower that had distracted him. It had a compass on the side and flint hanging off the other side, and a cord to go around his neck. It had four blades. One blade was so sharp it could cut a thin sheet of steel like it was cardboard. Two of the blades were saws, and another blade was actually a pair of scissors. It also had a flashlight.

Time passed. Maxwell tried backtracking the way he had come, but it was no use. At times he would shake with fear that he wouldn’t find his family. 

He wondered the mountain until night, and then he saw the north star. It gave him hope that he would find his family. He could remember being in his own warm safe room at home looking at the same north star. At that moment, he calmed down.

He looked at the star with his blue eyes, his chocolate brown hair looking much darker in the moonlight. He had on a warm jacket and a good pair of jeans. They were brand new jeans because as a twelve year old, he was growing so fast.

All of the sudden, he had an idea.He started gathering saplings for a mattress. He thought “I can’t have a place to sleep without a fire.” So then he started collecting firewood as well. 

He was trying to pull out a stick from a rocky hill.It was stuck fast. He was about to take out his pocket knife, when the moonlight touched something green that looked like a rock, but wasn’t one at the same time. 

He left the stick and started toward the green object up the rocky hill. When he got to the top, he realized there were three other objects. The one that he had seen first was not only green, but dark blue as well. They were gigantic eggs! One was dark grey with black markings all over it. Another was red and yellow like the sun on fire. The last one was light blue and light purple. 

Maxwell’s nose was red in the cold and he shivered. He thought “These eggs must be cold.” He took off his jacket and put the eggs inside like a bag. He walked over the nest and saw a light in a house.

Let them eat Cake!

This week we learned about Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. So of course (even though we are trying not to have sugar, dairy, or gluten...and this cake had lots of all three...) we ate cake!

Throughout the week when we were learning about the revolution I would promise cake, but it never seemed to happen. Then, serendipitously, we went to a small county fair that we wanted to support ie buy things at, and they were selling cute little cakes! The boys were super excited.

We read AWESOME books by Usborne about Marie Antoinette and Tale of Two Cities. Instead of writing dry info, they told the story almost as if it were historical fiction. I think that's the key for me. I've always had a really hard time reading nonfiction. It took me a year to read Hold on To Your Kids even though I REALLY loved it and wanted to read it.

But if it's fiction, I gobble it up and put my life on hold until it's done. That's the way I learn. In fact, the first book I read about Dyslexia was a book that was STORIES from a tutor's life. The other dyslexia books I take forever to read or just listen to via audiobook. I wonder if that has anything to do with my slight dyslexia.

Anyway, my boys liked the books but were shocked that everyone got their heads cut off in the end. Marie Antoinette, Sidney, AND Robespierre. They are used to happily ever afters. SURPRISE!

Also, I've been thinking a lot about Voltaire after last week's Enlightenment lessons. I didn't teach my kids about him, because I got so frustrated by him. He made fun of people who thought everything in life (like evil) was from God and was actually good. BUT he forgot to consider the actual doctrine; which is that it will give you EXPERIENCE and be for thy good.

We learn and are MADE by our experiences. Heros are made, characters are formed, and people know who they really are because of opposition. That is part of God's plan. SO THERE Voltaire! Talk to a mormon next time you want to criticize God for letting there be evil in the world!



We skipped science because I was in Lethbridge and didn't get back in time. I went to Lethbridge too often this week and didn't get everything done this week in school that I wanted to. Next week should be a normal humdrum week, and I hope so, because I need it.

One of the times I went to Lethbridge, I tied balloons for the institute fair. I had extra balloons afterwards, and so we've had a little school on how to tie balloons, and my boys have been having a blast.

And that's it. Yep! Happy week y'all!

An Enlightening First Week

WE DID IT!

Whew- first week down. Now, I must admit, we did not do my schedule perfectly, BUT we did do mornings pretty closely, and that is pretty amazing.

We started math, and I'm really intrigued by Maxwell's math program this year. It's supposed to be self guided (which I didn't realize until I started it) but purely for dyslexic reading issues, I will still be involved.

It's still Rightstart, but it's very different than the other years. It's purely geometry, but with the complex thinking it requires, I'm not too worried about atrophy in other math areas.

And I will be going  over other math areas with my new MATH FLASH CARDS---I'm proud of them just so you know. I've defined 72 math terms in cute memorable ways!!! Oh yah!--check a couple of them out:

Hyrum was not impressed with his math. It was supposed to be easy stuff, just going over days weeks months. Things we've gone over a million times. But Hyrum hates that type of thing because of all the arbitrary memorization going on. He said "I'm not good with calendar stuff. I will marry and then the mom will do the calendar stuff." Haha.



We actually did do history this week. We learned about Isaac Newton and John Locke. Newton was easy because there's so much on him and we already have a few science clubs dedicated to him in our physics year.

I had to dig to find children's books about the Enlightenment, however. I got one off amazon for Locke, but It was pretty lame. This is what children's books should look like:

• Introduce the person/subject.
• Name just a FEW (like 3) reasons why they're so important to know about
• share cute memorable stories that reinforce each reason
• remind them again of the few reasons
• THE END

(all of this with very endearing illustrations)

You do not need to go on and on DRYLY about background information that doesn't teach what you really need to know about the subject. Maybe later, after they really know the subject any way.

For instance, this is what a GOOD children's book about John Locke would look like:

• John Locke-A forefather of the Enlightenment, contemporary with Newton and other enlightenment thinkers. Changed the way we see the world
• He was a champion for religious tolerance, stressed the importance of teaching children in their youth, and taught the proper role of government.
• CUTE Story about religious tolerance 
• CUTE Story about children's mind being impressionable
• CUTE Story about proper role of government
• So, as you see, He was a champion for religious tolerance, stressed the importance of teaching children in their youth, and taught the proper role of government.

None of the other mumbo jumbo! Give kids things they can hold onto!

Yes it's interesting that he had to stop school because of the plague and that he heard the cries when they cut off the king's head, and I'm sure you could fit that in my outline, but REALLY! We need better children's writers!

Ahhemmm

So for our activity (we only did one) we did experiments on Newton's 3 laws of motion. We did all of these experiments in the physics year, but what ever. Repetition is good, right? For every action there is a reaction we used windup toys, and the boys loved that.

And although it doesn't have to do with MODERN history, we learned more history this week when we went to Fort Whoop up as a family. William said "NO! I want to go to the park, not Fort Poop up!"

But go we did. It was cute, they had us make these coal miner's lamps, and gave us a scavenger hunt to do that taught us about the founding of Lethbridge. They even gave us prizes at the end that were candy "coal" rocks. So fun.

BTW did you know Fort Whoop up was made to sell whiskey to Natives illegally? Yep pretty despicable.


For science we are studying Biology this year, which is the study of living things, so we discussed what characteristics all living things have.

As part of this, I got some water from a pond nearby and we looked at the living things in the water through a microscope. I was SO happy because there were things MOVING in the water. I was not so happy because it took forever for everyone to take their turn looking in the microscope which made antsy and bored kids, so I'm not sure how much I'll use my microscope in the future.

We have some new members in our class this year! Including new kindergarteners! Fun fun!

Speaking of living things and science, Maxwell had an amazing experience this summer that I MUST blog about. As I've said before, Maxwell had said that he wanted to explore the possibility of becoming an endangered species/zoo vet.

I promised him a behind-the-scenes experience at a zoo, and that is what he got!

My awesome friend Angela is a marine biologist. She let us shadow her one day:

First we went to see them feed and take care of orphaned baby seals. Yep. Just as amazing as it sounds.

SO CUTE! Although the way they feed them seems harsh-they stick a tube a foot down their throat and stuff them full of milk. But hey, they get better and are released into the wild, so it must work.

Then we went to the aquarium and got a backstage pass to learn more in depth what goes on there.

And then we went to release a bird that had been hurt and rehabilitated.

It was a very magical day to say the least. It was funny because Maxwell was almost as excited by all the travelling to go to all this stuff then the experience itself.

Since we were in Victoria, and we met Angela in Vancouver, we took our truck to the ferry that took us to the bus that took us to the sky train that took us to Angela's jeep. Maxwell was stoked.

Maxwell has been having a lot of learning going on lately.

He drew dragon parts on paper, took photos of it and photoshoped it together. He did this 100% on his own.

He also has been BEGGING me to teach him cursive.....heh heh heh I'm so clever.  I will tell you why: When He is twelve we will go on a trip to any temple in North America including Hawaii. But he has to get his own family temple names which means he needs to do family history which means he needs to know cursive. Heh heh heh.

We started doing family history regardless of the cursive today. Maxwell may have found my grandma's uncle's whole family, but we have to wait for a marriage certificate to come to find out.

Uhhh...yah, I don't know anything about Dustin's side. Maxwell was so proud to get his OWN lds.org account.

And also, Maxwell is building a life size R2D2 in the garage. Picture coming when he's finished.


I must say, this blog really is for me (although I like to think SOMEONE is reading it) but I've come to realize how important it is to Westwind (my school I'm a  part of.)

This is sort of what Westwind has looked like lately:

I'm serious. I feel really bad for everyone working there. Here's the issue:

There's two types of "Homeschooling."

1-"Type 620" where you're actually part of Westwind school and you're assigned a teacher who checks on you 3 times a year with a checklist of where Alberta kids should be and offers you classes and field trips and enrichment. Also you get $1400 a child in curriculum.

BUT you need to show lots of evidence that you are following curriculum that you have planned with your teacher.

2-"Type 600" where someone comes two time a year and makes sure your kids are alive and well. They give you around $830 per child in curriculum, and you can get the supplies yourself and get reimbursed. No evidence needed.


Here's the problem. Moms sign up 620 but act like it's 600. And there has been miscommunication about just how much evidence is needed, and what happens when you don't follow your part of the agreement, and now some moms are really wanting their $1400 but not want to provide evidence of curriculum, and the school needs as much evidence as they can get so the government (who is AUDITING them!) won't shut them down.

Crazy stuff, especially since a mom can sign up for 620 spend all their money at the beginning of the year and then not give any evidence at the end. How can that work?!?

And mom's don't want to be told that they're doing anything wrong because, well, it's like saying they are parenting wrong. Have you ever told a parent that they were parenting wrong? I would not suggest it.

Anyway, the teachers and the moms are all actually good friends, and so this has been personal as well as professional, and there have been many tears and frustration.

Also, the way in which we have bought our curriculum is changing drastically, and is a SUPER big frustration to moms and especially to our poor dear secretary!

Good news for me, however, that this blog (which I do regardless of Westwind) has TONS of evidence that I'm following curriculums! WHOOT!

Although I really need to have my kids turn in more writing samples....yah....uh....I'll be better this year!!!

But in the spirit of recording things that Westwind needs to know, here are some of the books we read this summer:

Yep, we are a Little House family (although I haven't told my kids about the TV show) and we finished them all....at least twice via audio book.

Getting it Together

Okay, maybe I am freaking out now.....I decided to start tomorrow (that's before Alberta starts anyway.) And when I think of all I want to do.....AHHHH!

One-on-one teaching.....well I want to start teaching WILLIAM. It will just be a little bit of preschool, but still, time time time.

Hyrum needs to be taught AT LEAST an hour of Lindamood Bell a day.

Maxwell needs more school than ever!!! I REALLY hope that Maxwell will become self sufficient next year. So that means A LOT of preparation work this year.

And Daniel....he's doing level "C" of Rightstart. which is pretty long.

Okay, let's break this down.

First, Scheduling.

I'm really serious about this. I NEED to do this, which means I might need an actual bell to keep me on schedule!!! I've always been against such public school imitations, but well----you've got to try what you think is best, right?

See how when I'm reading with Hyrum or Daniel, Maxwell is reading with the other boy? I HOPE THAT WORKS! I need to save time anyway I can this year.

When I am doing one-on-one with the three oldest (the time when William gets into the most mischief) I have started to have one boy assigned to babysitting. They get a reward (a pokemon card) at the end of babysitting.

This rotation seems to work well---one boy doing school-one boy doing piano (which turns into computer games/not sure if that will fly)-and one boy babysitting.

Because of my kid's dynamics, this is how that rotation HAS to go:

Maxwell-piano----------Maxwell-school------Maxwell-babysitting
Hyrum-babysitting-----Hyrum-piano----------Hyrum-school
Daniel-school-----------Daniel-babysitting----Daniel-piano

I've decided that if we do Barton one day and Math the next, that might work.  Scheduling has been tricky for the last few years.

So this is what I'm thinking:

MONDAY=Barton    TUESDAY=math (2 lessons)    WEDNESDAY=Barton    THURSDAY=math (2 lessons)    FRIDAY=Barton    SATURDAY=math (1 or 2 lessons)

Notice saturday we are doing school? yah, but it will ONLY be math. (No devotionals and other time-sucking things.) I'm hoping this will make life easier and enable us to get more done.



WILLIAM

William is now FOUR years old!!! That means preschool time! Honestly I haven't done any preparation work for this little guy. He is dying for challenges and attention. I think that's why he gets into mischief so often.  Here's a list of things I want him to be competent in by the end of the year:

*One-to-one correspondence with numbers from one to ten.
*Shape names
*Colors and can sort objects
*knows inside/outside/between/on/over/under/beside
*arrange pictures in sequence
*knows his letters
*match up lowercase to uppercase
*write his letters-upper and lower
*write his NAME :)

Really, this will only take 15 minutes a day of consistent effort for him to be able to do all this. He's almost there in many of the points.

Daniel

Daniel will continue doing same old same old. But like I said, we can't be lazy with math in order to get through his book.

Hyrum

Hyrum has been assessed by  Lindamood-Bell learning processes this summer. That was kind of emotional for me. Good news is that he is at grade level with math and phonemic awareness. Of course, these are the two things we work at daily. BUT it does say that there are ways to get to how his brain works.

They said he needs to be taught in "Visualizing and Verbalizing" and in "Seeing Stars." I feel like we've hit a bit of a brick wall with Barton, so we will take a break with that to make room for these programs. I will be trained in them sometime this fall.

He needs 1-2 hours a day in these......so.....yah, that's a lot of time in a family of five (where EVERY kid is dyslexic.) WE CAN DO THIS! On tues and thursdays I will have to do it at a later time. I'm not sure how he'll react to this. I hope he doesn't feel punished by doing more school than everyone else. Not sure what to do, but we won't start until I'm trained.  We'll do Barton in the mean time.

Maxwell

Maxwell has been doing awesome, but I need him to get ready to be independent.

So math. Okay, I know until now I've been all rainbows and unicorns in my accounts of Rightstart math, but now it's complaint time:

Rightstart (and this is all first edition) doesn't do enough fractions. Don't get me wrong, Maxwell knows A LOT about fractions, but he only knows things he can visualize. He doesn't know the short cuts to multiplying them. He doesn't know how to add and subtract by finding large common denominators and he doesn't understand division at all.

So they have a fractions unit. A 45 lesson fractions unit. REALLY?!? After all the math we already do, we have to fit this in?

And then there's Geometry.  That is what he's studying this year. But it's FOREVER long and geometry is ALL he does. So one year of NO arithmetic/probability/algebra? Hmmm doesn't sound so good.

I think we will ALWAYS have to do two lessons on Saturday with Maxwell. BTW apparently they are trying to fix these type of things in the second edition.



And now Maxwell's language arts. Halfway through the summer I got sick and well....Barton has been....ummm.....well we haven't done much of it. So yah, Maxwell still needs to finish book 6 and I want him to finish book 7 so that will take the whole year I think.

Also, I REALLY want to teach him cursive. NOW. I want him to do family history before he's 12 so he can take his own names to the temple. He needs to know cursive to do that.

AND I feel like he's really behind in writing so I need to focus on this more. ONE MORE THING! This homeschool thing is just getting crazy folks.


All this so next year he will be doing Teaching textbooks or Videotext math which should be pretty self guided. And so he will be reading/writing sufficiently enough to start doing internet courses.

So then, I can teach William full time because I'm not teaching Maxwell full time....yah, I'm sure that will work....or not!?!

AHHHH!!!! Okay.....I can do this, I can do this.

Modern History Outline for the 2016-17 Year

HERE WE GOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Okay, so I feel pretty calm about this next school year, probably because it's all old hat now.

NOTE TO SELF: TRUST the notes I give myself on this blog!!!! I said at the end of the modern history year "I need to put the french revolution stuff at the end of ancient history to make room for Modern history." I did NOT do this, and I'm kicking myself now!

I feel like this is the most important year of history in my four year cycle. I can't slack off and I need more time! Well---here it is! (With the french stuff..blah)

September
Isaac Newton--------------physic experiments
Voltair/Locke--------------game where you can't say certain words without going to "jail"
Marie Antoinette----------make cake and powder faces
French Revolution--------eat french food
Napoleon-------------------three cornered hats
Industrial Rev/Steam engine-homemade steam boat 
Trains-----------------------train toys
child labor-----------------watch newsies

October
Jane Austin----------------silhouettes
Telegraph------------------morse code kit
camera----------------------UV paper
Florence Nightingale----toy doctor kits
Victoria--------------------Decoupage box using victorian pictures
Charles Dickens---------decoupage book with character descriptions in it
Impressionists------------paint with pointillism or divisionism
Alexander Bell-----------cup telephones

November
Edison---------------------experiments with lightbulbs
Tesla-----------------------plasma ball
Immigrants----------------statue of liberty crowns
Carnegie/Rockefeller---play monopoly
Inventors------------------make inventions out of junk
Write brothers-----------paper plane book I have
Henry Ford--------------Car cookie assembly line
Teddy Roosevelt-------teddy grahams and locks
WWI----------------------poppies

December
Russia's revolution-----watch Anastasia 
Charles Lindbergh-----balsa wood planes with rubber band propellers
Amelia Earhart---------blindfold and try to find island to refuel
*movies------------------make a stop animation movie
*prohibition--------------make root beer
*women's vote-------make picket signs

January
*Gandhi----------------get the salt out of salt water
*Gandhi-------------------make own clothes
*great depression--------hobo signs
*new deal-----------------make dam
*german currency--------act out inflation
*wwii-----------------------gas masks
*hollocaust--------------make star of david monument
*Einstein-----------------dress up like him


February
*war at home/women working----make star flags for windows
*Picasso-------------------collage
*atomic bomb-------------floating lamps for Japanese
*zionist conference--------make israel flag
*penicillin-------------------make fake antibiotics from sugar and gel capsules
*Vaccines------------------take them with me to Abrahams?
*cold war/Stalin--------------------evacuation backpack/72 hr kit
*iron curtain-----------------Chocolate pilot reenactment 

March
*Tibet/the great leap forward------------mandala 
*McCarthyism--------a game (hear me out) where I hand out cards and one has a red square. The one who gets it is supposed to hide the fact, and then they talk together trying to guess who got it. I then accuse someone and then I say they don't lose if they admit that they talked to the one who got the red square and then every one actually loses (and after they get the point I let them get the promised prize....)
*cuban missile Crisis/JFK-------play with submarines
*Watergate--------recording fake stories in private that the whole group hears later

*Korean War
*Plastic------------p 40 of How science works
*McDonald's/pop culture-------go to McDonalds
*preservatives-------make a home made happy meal and compare
*integration---------people chain of white and black intermingled
*rosa Parks--------dove of peace with rainbow of fingerprints

April
*Martin Luther King-------dream cloud "I have a dream" with little clouds with plan of better world
*Vietnam--------------------ty dye shirts
*Space race----------------make space ship toothpicks and marshmallows
*Chernobyl-------------------make 3 eyed fish etc out of clay
*Latin American Immigration--------pinata with latin things inside
*women's movement-------make pendulum of women's struggles
*changes in agriculture/gmo-------make paper garden on wall and change it
*Mandela---------------------different colored paper hands with earth

May
*berlin wall/end of wall------wall of boxes separating family in house
*Tian'anmen Square--------flower funeral wreath
*gulf war-----------------------burn some oil (outside)
*computers------------------make a computer out of boxes etc
*information age------------info hunt= first going around house to finding info, then just by asking google mama. (time them)
*twin towers------------------send up helium hope balloons
*Afganistan war---------watch Malala's documentary 
*pollution--------------------mini pond pollutant and candle going out without oxygen
*green revolution------------solar toy kit

Dyslexia Extravaganza!

Guess what!?!?!

Yep. I am a certified Barton Reading and Spelling TUTOR!!!!

It was a little nerve racking to go through the process. I had to teach Susan Barton herself in front of ten other people who were also being tested. The process took ALL DAY but I learned so much. Even if I didn't certify it was worth it, but I DID pass!!!

All the rest of the people there were working with schools or starting a tutoring practice. I was the only one who was just a homeschool mom wanting to make sure I was doing things right and wanting this:

Yep, a gold star sticker saying I wasn't messing up my family.

It turned out only half of us became certified.  I swear a few of them had not watched the training videos! Even though I've been doing this for 2 1/2 years, I had stayed up very late studying for a whole week I was so nervous.

But I was not done in my training. No no no. Watch out people, I am now a Dyslexia Consultant and Screener!! Boom yah!

I went to an INTENSIVE training seminar by none other than Susan Barton about Dyslexia and how to screen for it. It was an incredible experience to say the least, and these are just a few of the amazing things I learned:

*Dyslexia doesn't skip generations, and if you and your husband have it, ALL of your kids will. If one of you has it, there's a 50% chance with each child, and if neither one has it, none of your kids will.

*Special fonts, cursive, physical therapy (such as brain balancing exercises and eye tracking,) and diet do not affect dyslexia in any measurable way.

*Irlens syndrome (or scotopic sensitivity) is completely separate from dyslexia. With scotopic sensitivity, they have eye fatigue because of light, and THEY are the ones who feel like letters are moving. Dyslexics don't see letters move, but they do mix up the sequence of letters. For example:

You read that by changing around the sequence of the letters. They did not dance or move. Dyslexics are basically doing the above without meaning to. They're just trying to make sense of these arbitrary squiggles on the page in anyway they can.

*No school teacher is taught how to teach spelling. They are good at exposure of spelling, but not the "why" that dyslexics so desperately need.

*You can not teach a moderate-severe dyslexic child to read in a classroom setting. The most kids you can teach is 12 if they are ALL dyslexic, and only with a certain type of Orton Gillingham method. (Since almost everyone in the seminar was a teacher of some sort, I wonder how they felt about that!)

*Most schools do not know how to teach dyslexics. Even if a child gets one-on-one reading tutoring, they work on FLUENCY even though their testing of the child said they needed PHONEMIC AWARENESS.  This made me so completely frustrated!!!!

*The Dyslexic brain is physically different from the average brain. This will never change.

*The parts in the brain that light up when reading are different in a dyslexic brain. When an average person reads, three areas of the brain light up. The area in front is small and then it goes back to long term memory. In a dyslexic brain, it never leaves the front, and that part lights up exceptionally larger than the average person's.

*THIS CAN CHANGE! If a dyslexic person has gone through intense Orton Gillingham reading programs, their brain with start lighting up just like an average person's!

and last but not least....

*I AM DYSLEXIC!!!

I've always loved reading, but BAD at spelling, so I figured I had a dyslexic glitch, but that I didn't really have it. Susan Barton spelled out what mild dyslexia looks like (differently than her online video interestingly enough....) and it was like she was describing ME!

The first time I heard of dyslexia was from my grandma. She said she had it, but she was a published author. I just figured it was a glitch. I mixed things around spelling and when writing numbers all the time, so I figured I had the same glitch, but then Maxwell COULD NOT learn how to read no matter what I tried.

I knew he was dyslexic a bit when he couldn't tell the difference between his 6 and 9, but I could have known sooner by his delayed speech (he didn't really start talking until 2 1/2,) his excellent spacial reasoning skills and his absolute inability to rhyme.

"What rhymes with cat?"  "Kitten?"

So....where's the missing link?  My dad. Despite being an amazing husband and father and succeeding in life, my father has a poor self image and it's hard for him to admit faults.  Of course, I don't see dyslexia as a fault, but he does.

Of course, I, being the annoying and pushy daughter that I am, asked him if I could screen him as I was on my way home from Arizona.  He was the third person I have tried screening so far...

This didn't go over very good. My dad has lost a lot of his hearing, so I couldn't do it properly, and my family was very distracting. But I did find out that my uncle is severely dyslexic, and they never knew what to do for him. He might be reading at a second grade level even now. I don't know this uncle. I want to get to know him.

It was fascinating. As I was testing Dad I said "Words are made up of separate sounds such as "m" "ah" "t" make mat. What is the first sound?" and my dad get frustrated and says "I've always hated this. My brain doesn't work like that! It's not "m....ah....t" it's "mah....t." But I've just gone along with it, but it doesn't work with my brain."

Uhhh......can we say dyslexic!?! He practically diagnosed himself right then and there!

Now the question is....Is DUSTIN dyslexic?

If he is, 100% of our children will be dyslexic to some degree.

Tell me what you think:

U <3 I has been our symbol of love for a long time in our marriage. One time as newlyweds, Dustin had some glow in the dark paint that he painted on our ceiling as a surprize. He couldn't wait and said "Lindy, come in here and lay down." He turned off the lights, and I started laughing "U <3 I?" "Hu? what? Wait......oh no, you're right! I did it backwards!"

He didn't even notice that he did it backwards until I said something. Hahahaha.

How fitting that this is the motto for our 100% dyslexic family. We will all be amazing, but don't invite us to spelling bees!!!!


One of the funnest things about the conference was meeting people who totally understood this passion of mine, and who I could learn from too. Brenda and Christine specifically are my new best friends:

They were awesome, and they helped me as I prepared my gift for Susan Barton....all the sight word cards I had made over the years for the Barton system.  They took this little video of me explaining how to use them:

And I made a new website (that I haven't fancied up at all) so that there's a place where people can download the flash cards:

http://dyslexichomeschooling.com/

I have a dream of making this into a site that is a very helpful resource for dyslexic homeschoolers. Not right now. But it's coming.

Susan Barton ended up saying she wouldn't add my sight word cards to her tutor help page....Dustin said "Oh well, her loss. You will be the next Susan Barton....but better looking."  Hahaha I love that man.

But really, I have found my passion! I want to learn and accomplish!

A few days ago I went to a neighbor's house. Their son went to public school and could not learn to read. His self esteem was going down the toilet, so they took their whole family out and started homeschooling. The mom has had no idea what to do for her son to help him to read, but knew he needed to get his self respect back.

I went and talked to them about dyslexia and how to overcome reading difficulties. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. I felt like I was making a difference, while teaching about something I'm so passionate about.

I told him how 50% of NASA are dyslexic and how over 50% of those in prison are dyslexic. So what's the difference? = How they think of themselves. Those in prison think "It doesn't matter how hard I try, so what's the point." They think they are dumb and a waist. But those in NASA know they are of worth. They know they have something to offer the world. They are going to prove it, and they know how to overcome hard things. Those are the people going to Mars.

I know it might sound odd, but I felt the spirit while I was saying all this and more, and I know it was not just me talking to this young man.

This is what I want to do!!!

Even now I want to start helping our elementary school (which I personally know does NOT have ANY dyslexic programs in place.) I want to help our district, I want to help ALBERTA! (btw....I am the FIRST certified dyslexia tutor in Orton Gillingham methods in ALL of Alberta!!!)

If anything happens to Dustin's income, I know what I want to do now, and I have the ability to.



By the way, we have been doing school this summer, especially after Arizona.

Even William has been doing some school:

Each one of my kids knew their letter sounds before they turned four. Even Hyrum:

Yet that did not mean they would learn reading easily.

We do Barton Reading every day. Hyrum has been very exciting to work with. I knew he wasn't ready to go onto book 4 and the last lesson in book 3 was TORTURE because of the units "oll, old, ost, olt, ild, and ind." So I started over the entire book.

I was not sad to do this, and Hyrum has been a different child this time through. It has taken a YEAR to do book three, but now we are flying through it. I can see the progress so clearly from last year that it's incredibly satisfying.

And YES Daniel does have some dyslexia. It's very obvious when I ask him to rhyme words. But I think it's mild to moderate, and he is getting steadily better. I doubt he will need special accommodations for standardized tests.

Speaking of accommodations for standardized tests.....Maxwell and Hyrum are both scheduled to be assessed by our school division's psychologist!!!   This is very good news to me.

Also, this week Hyrum will get assessed by Lindamood Bell as well. So stay tuned!

And in closing, Maxwell has been doing so well. He knows that "outrageous" is spelled with an "e" but that "fabulous" does not have an "e" and he knows WHY!

And he also learned a new word. One that has a "y" in the middle, and he knows why that word has a "y." That word is "DYSLEXIC."